Out for Ice Cream
by Magiccatprincess
Summary: Clark Kent has a lot on his mind. He can't figure out how he feels about Superboy. Everyone says he has to step up and be a dad, but it can't- he's not... On top of that his best friend is ignoring him. In hopes of distracting himself, and maybe finding out what's up with Bruce, he takes his 'nephew' out for ice cream.


Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.

**Out for Ice Cream.**

"And start," Black Canary comanded, her eyes trained on the two teens who sprang into action at her words, begining their sparring match. She had made great process with Superboy.

Already was the clone thinking ahead and not just thinking with his fists.

This sparing match would test Conner's ability to plan his attacks and keep his emotions under control.

One would think that seeing Superboy had super strength, he would have absolutely no problem fighting a small thirteen-year-old... Except when said thirteen-year-old is Robin, boy wonder and protegé of Batman.

After ten minutes Superboy started to get frustrated. Robin was light on his feet and easily avoided all Superboy's attacks. Soon Superboy was wildly swinging his fists in attempt to hit Robin.

This was what the thirteen-year-old had been waiting for. Aiming a hard kick at Superboy's legs Robin knocked the clone of his feet, who landed on the ground with a dull thud. The floor lit up around him, the word _fail_ appearing just behind his head.

Sitting up Conner clenched his fists.

The team wisely held back, all watching, waiting to see what would happen next. Black Canary stood still, ready to interfere in case it would be needed.

The only one near Superboy was Robin, who now stood less than a feet away from the heavy breathing clone.

When Superboy finally stopped panting and he unclenched his fists Robin held out his hand. For a while Superboy just stared at the outstretched hand. Slowly a small smile formed on his face and he accepted the offered hand.

Still smiling, Superboy turned his head to Black Canary. "How long was that?"

"Sixteen minutes and forty-five seconds." Black Canary answered without glancing at the stopwatch, her tone pleasant.

"A personal feat." Aqualad praised. "Your control has improved greatly."

"Dude, that was awesome!" Kid Flash cried speeding up to stand at Robin's side and slapping him on the back. "It looked like you were ready for whatever Supey dished out! How many steps ahead were you even thinking?"

"Six." Robin answered with a small shrug. It wasn't enough when dealing with criminals like Penquin or the Riddler, but decent for a mere training for which he was instructed to think ahead.

Black Canary spoke up before Kid Flash could respond. "Ready to go again?"

Letting out a light chuckle Robin went back to his original place and got in a fighting stance... And noticed that Superboy hadn't as much as twitched since Aqualad had spoken up. The clone had tensed up and a scowl formed on his face.

Robin narrowed his eyes. Superboy scowling wasn't anything new, but judging by his stance and expression...

Just then Red Tornado stepped into the training room. "Robin, you have a visitor who wishes to speak to you."

It took Robin two seconds to realise who his visitor was and even less than that to realise why. Fighting away the urge to grimace at his 'uncle's' poor timing, the boy shot Conner an apologetic look before following Red Tornado towards the cave's living room.

Like he expected, there standing near the couch was none other than Superman.

Oh how Robin wanted to put on his trademark smirk.

Instead the boy wonder kept his face carefully blank. "Can I help you?"

Superman met his gaze. "We need to talk."

Robin raised his chin. "About?"

"You know what." Superman replied. The hero exhaled through his nose when Robin didn't reply. "Sometimes I think you follow his example a little _too_ much."

Now Robin couldn't stop the smirk from forming. "Thanks."

"Not a compliment."

"I know." Robin shrugged and not hiding his amusement, it didn't stay long. "We can't talk about this stuff here."

Nodding Superman started heading towards the zeta beams, once he reached them he stopped and noticed that Robin hadn't gotten inside of one yet. "Why aren't you-"

Robin glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry Superboy, but I gotta do some negation work now. Tell Kid Mouth I'll bring ice cream." With that said the Boy Wonder walked over to the zeta beams.

Superman frowned. "He doesn't lower his super hearing when in the cave?"

Underneath the domino mask Robin's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Well," He spoke, his tone cold. "it's not like he has _anyone _to teach him how to, does he?" With that said Batman's protegé stepped into the zetabeam.

**-Young-Justice-**

As was the usual plan of action for situations like this, the two of them ended up in the best ice cream parlor in Metrocity. The same one Clark always took Dick to ever since the boy was eight.

"Thanks uncle Clark." Dick said taking the bowl filled with pistachio ice-cream from his 'uncle'. He didn't hesitate in shoving a spoon fool of the cold sweet treat into his mouth. Azure blue eyes closed as Dick savored sweet taste of freshly made ice-cream. Oh why didn't Gotham have a 'Donatello's ice bar'?

After a while the boy looked at the man sitting across him who was enjoying his own chocolate ice-cream. "You know," Dick tried to sound neutral. "If you wanted to take a kid out for ice cream, I know someone who is far more qualified than me-"

"Not you too!" Clark groaned. The man of steel tiredly ran his hand down his face. He winced when he saw the shocked look on the thirteen-year-old's face. He had never raised his voice at Dick before. Clark sighed. "I'm not the boy's father, Dick."

Putting his spoon down Dick made sound that could be interpreted as both annoyance and amusement. "No offense uncle Clark, but you need to start getting in nial."

Clark already had has mouth open to say that there was no possible way for him to 'step up and be a father to the clon- boy, but paused when the word Dick had registered. "...Nial?"

"Yeah," Blue shrugged, as if it was ridiculous that Clark didn't know the information. "If being in denial means you are refusing to believe something, than nial means accepting something."

The way the boy explained it left no room for argument or... denial.

"And then there's 'being in re-nial," Dick continued making air quotes when saying the new word. "which I guess that must mean trying to make yourself believe something."

For a moment the man of steel was silent, finally he chuckled.

"Alfred hear that one yet?"

"Nope."

They fell in a comfortable silence as they ate their ice cream. Dick was doing a far better job at pretending that nothing was up. He was eating his green, cold treat with a content look on his face.

Which was the complete opposite of how the man on the chair across him was acting. Clark Kent was glaring at his bowl, his grip on his spoon hard enough to almost-

Not almost.

His grip was strong enough to shatter the white plastic spoon into six uneven pieces.

Surprised by the cracking sound, the glasses wearing man stared at plastic pieces in his hand.

Dick snorted which automatically got Clark's attention. "I'm no detective," The thirteen-year-old drawled. The glare that the reporter sends his way only made Dick's smirk become more obnoxious. "but I think you're upset."

For a moment Clark's hand went upwards as if he wanted to slap himself, but decided against it and instead just pushed his bowl aside. It wasn't like he'd be able to eat his ice cream without a spoon anyway.

Thanks to his relaxed demeanor it wouldn't appear that way, but Dick was aware of each and every move his surrogate uncle was making. He'd been trained in analyzing his opponents and reading expressions, plus Bruce already had overly full files on both Superman and Clark Kent.

And sadly... Sometimes you needed to spell thing out for the 'blue boyscout' to get to the point. Taking his time to finish the last bit of his ice cream, Dick finally decided that things needed to be pushed into action."You said we needed to talk."

The tiny frown that had been on Clark's face since he snapped his spoon deepened. "Bruce's is avoiding me."

'Really uncle Clark? We're here to gossip about my foster dad?' Dick's bright blue eyes narrowed. "You know why." He said almost repeating Clark's exact words from before.

"It can't all be about the boy."

Alright, now Clark was just being ridiculous. Dick raised an eyebrow as he met Clark's gaze. "Really?" the kid's tone was full of obvious fake disbelief. "Bruce Wayne feels bad for the kid that has to go through life without parents, who would have thought?"

"Dick... It's not that easy-"

"No one's asking you to sign adoption papers, uncle Clark." Dick said before Clark could really start covering himself in. Finally Dick averted his gaze, his eyes going to the broken pieces of plastic on the table, in all honesty, Dick understood why Clark had been less than pleased with finding out he had a clone.

It couldn't be... whelming to find out that an evil organisation had used your DNA to create a clone of you meant to either kill you or replace you. But it wasn't as if it was Conner's fault.

"You don't have to be a dad... At least not like everyone is making you feel." Dick said his voice suddenly quiet and solemn and so unlike how he sounded just moments before.

Clark didn't like it. "...Dick?"

"You and Conner are the only Kryptonians in existence." Dick changed tactics completely, his voice rising a few octaves and the boy tried not to think back to five years ago, when was just a small, helpless little kid, who could only hope the judge would allow him to stay with the man who he back then still mentally refered to as 'mr. Wayne'.

Unable to stop fidgeting Dick met Clark's eyes again. "You're the only one who can help Connor learn about his powers. It's kinda a huge responsibility, but" Dick got up, a very Robin-like smirk on his face. "it's also kind of an honor." He chuckled. "Now if you excuse me, but I kinda need to go and be home before dinner..." Sending his uncle one last over the top wave, Dick turned around and left.

His leaving was abrupt, but when comparing it to his foster-father's manners...

Clark watched Dick go, the boy's words still ringing in his ears. The man of steel still felt lost... But after talking with nephew he could at least try to picture the path that he should take.

Slowly -not a hundred percent sure yet- Clark reached for his cell phone and pressed the speed dial.

To Clark's surprise it only went over once.

"_Alfred's already outside ready to pick him up._"

Clark let out a bark of laughter. "Of course you know exactly where he is..." The reporter shook his head in amusement. If it were anyone other than Bruce Wayne on the phone with him, Clark would have joked about Dick being chipped... Of course Dick had a tracker on him. That's what came with being close to Batman.

Clark sobered up right away. "That's one wise kid you got there, Bruce." He quietly informed the man he considered his best friend, his brother in arms. No matter how hard the other made it.

"_I know._"

"Listen," Clark paused. Was he really gonna do this? He wasn't... Or... "I'm not the boy's father Bruce." Clark winced when he could practically feel Bruce narrowing his eyes. "But, if it's alright with you, I'd like to take a look at the training regimen you and Dinah put together for him."


End file.
